. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/SE/M/18 
25 February 2009 
 (09-0977) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Eighteenth Dedicated Session  
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 3 DECEMBER 2008 
 
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Shree B.C. Servansing (Mauritius) 
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA .........................................................................................................1  
B. PARAGRAPH 41 OF THE HONG KONG MINISTERIAL DECLARATION :  MONITORING 
PROGRESS OF THE SMALL ECONOMIES ' PROPOSALS IN THE NEGOTIATING AND OTHER 
BODIES ............................................................................................................................... ..........1  
- COMPILATION PAPER PREPARED BY THE SECRETARIAT (WT/COMTD /SE/W/22/REV.2) ................1  
 
 A. 
ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The draft agenda for the meeting as cont ained in Airgram WTO/AIR/3286, issued on 
19 November 2008 was adopted . 
B. PARAGRAPH 41 OF THE HONG KONG MINISTERIAL DECLARATION :  MONITORING PROGRESS OF 
THE SMALL ECONOMIES ' PROPOSALS IN THE NEGOTIATING AND OTHER BODIES  
- COMPILATION PAPER PREPARED BY THE SECRETARIAT (WT/COMTD /SE/W/22/REV.2) 
2. The Chairman  recalled the mandate agreed to in the Hong Kong Declaration concerning the 
Work Programme on Small Economies, mainly th at the Committee on Trade and Development in 
Dedicated Session continue to monitor the progr ess of the small economies' proposals in the 
negotiating groups and other WTO bodies, with the aim of providing responses to the trade-related 
issues of small economies.  He also recalled that in July 2006, at the 15th Dedicated Session, the 
Secretariat was requested to prepare a document that would assist the Dedicated Session in its 
monitoring role.  The Secretariat was also request ed to periodically update the compilation paper to 
reflect the latest developments in the negotiations .  The Chairman said that the Secretariat had 
updated the compilation paper and that the la test version was circulated as document 
WT/COMTD/SE/W/22/Rev.2. 
3. The Chairman pointed out that the main changes in the document could be found in the 
Sections on the Agriculture and NAMA negotiations, wh ere the relevant paragra phs of the latest draft 
modalities texts presented by the resp ective Chairmen had been included.  The paper also reflected 
new submissions by the small and vulnerable economies (SVEs) in the negotiations on Trade 
Facilitation, Fisheries Subsidies and Services.  He noted that following comments made on the 
previous version of the paper, the Secretaria t had also included the Committee on Trade and 
Development's (CTD) Report to the General C ouncil on Measures to Assist Small Economies in 
Meeting their Obligations under the Agreements on SPS Measures, TBT and TRIPS.  He said that the 
revised version of the compilation stood as a comp lete record of the activities under the Work 
Programme on Small Economies thus far.   
4. The representative of Barbados,  on behalf of the SVE proponents, thanked the Secretariat for 
continuing to work on the document and for circulating the most recent revision.  He said that the WT/COMTD/SE/M/18 
Page 2  
 
  compilation was a key tool to assist the CTD in Dedicated Session to monitor the extent of the 
involvement which the SVEs had in many of th e major areas under negotiation in the DDA.  He 
expressed hope that a future revised version of th e compilation paper would re flect concrete successes 
for the SVEs in all of the areas where the SV E proponents were active in the WTO, including 
Agriculture, NAMA, Services, Fisherie s Subsidies and Trade Facilitation.  
5. He mentioned that the rather short agenda of the 18
th Dedicated Session belied the importance 
of the CTD Dedicated Sessions to the SVE proponents.   He said that the majority of the work the 
SVEs conducted in other negotiating bodies had its ge nesis in the Committee and that they continued 
to actively look for new and important issues which c ould assist SVEs in their fuller integration into 
the multilateral trading system.  He called on al l Members to share their ideas as to how the 
discussions could be taken forward.  
6. He also called on the Secretariat to use its r esources to assist the SVEs in identifying new 
areas for study and elaboration.  He informed Me mbers that at the General Council meeting convened 
to discuss the impact of the financial crisis on trade financing, the representative of Barbados, on 
behalf of the SVEs, had briefly touched on some areas where SVEs could be negatively impacted by 
the ongoing international financial crisis.  He called on the Secretariat to consider liaising with the 
task force which the Director-General had estab lished to monitor any impact the international 
financial crisis may have on SVEs, including the impact on demand for SVEs' goods and services, and 
any implications for important sectors such as touris m, financial services, fisheries, textiles, light 
manufacturing and primary agriculture production.  He suggested that an examination of this impact 
could be undertaken using the various SVEs' charac teristics and problems, elaborated in previous 
submissions.  
7. The representative of El Salvador  joined the representative of Barbados in thanking the 
Secretariat for the preparation of the compilation pa per.  Regarding the second point of the statement 
by the representative of Barbados on the impact of the financial crisis, he said it was important to 
agree on a package of Aid-for-Trade results which would provide access to credit for entrepreneurs.  
This would allow them to conduct their business more efficiently and, hence, take advantage of the 
results of trade liberalization achieved in the Doha Round.  He said that although his country 
recognized that a number of developed countries had problems at the national level, there may be a 
need to inject liquidity, and above all confidence, in their markets.  He thought that the situation 
should be handled without neglecti ng commitments to the poorest populations.  He suggested that the 
Secretariat also examine solutions that would guar antee the financing of trade for the developing 
countries, in particular the small and vulnerable economies. 
8. The representative of the European Communities  thanked the Secretariat for producing the 
revised compilation paper which allowed all Members to take stock of the work related to SVEs on 
the basis of a document that was up-to-date and fact ually correct.  He said that while negotiations on 
substance happened in various other fora, the EC continued to support the objectives of the Work 
Programme on Small Economies to find appropriate solutions to the particular challenges facing 
SVEs, whether in the DDA Round or through the WTO's regular work programme. 
9. The Chairman  thanked all delegations for their inte rventions and took note of the request 
made by Barbados on behalf of the SVEs complement ed by El Salvador.  He said that the Secretariat 
would conduct the necessary consultations and report back to the next Dedicated Session. 
10. The Dedicated Session took note  of all interventions.   
11. The meeting was adjourned . 
__________